thy grace may wing me to prevent his art
by wild wolf free17
Summary: The first con Neal ever pulled, he was seven. -oneshots in the same 'verse-
1. sin of living

**Title**: sin of living

**Disclaimer**: any you recognize aren't mine

**Warnings**: pre-series; child abuse; character death

**Pairings**: mentions of Neal/Kate

**Rating**: PG13

**Wordcount**: 630

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: green

* * *

The first con Neal ever pulled, he was seven. Neal's name was Jake back then, and his baby brother was only four, a slight boy Neal always calls Matty in his mind.

He told Matty to hide and not come out till Jake fetched him, and then Jake went to their 'caretakers' (even now, Neal can't think of them without pain and fear and hatred and so much sarcasm) and pissed them off so thoroughly they forgot about Matty breaking a vase.

But Jake was in no condition to go find Matty, and so Matty spent all night in a dark closet and the next day, when Jake could finally move, Sir had already dragged Matty into the den and demanded to know why he thought startling people was a good idea.

Jake was too slow, too injured, too small. (Neal knows it wasn't his fault. He does. But Jake still blames himself, and Sir, and the system.) Matty cried, but one swipe of Sir's huge fist sent him reeling into the wall. Jake screamed and sobbed and swore he'd make Sir pay.

So two hours later, after Sir hid Matty's body in the trunk and Ma'am made Sir breakfast, Jake snuck out the house and went three doors down, to Mrs. Tunston. Mrs. Tunston was the neighborhood busybody who made dozens of calls to the police a month, and Jake had quite the story to tell her.

And Jake collapsed at her feet, moaning about masked and men and Mama and Daddy and the trunk. With a wailing child in the background, she called the police and soon enough officers arrived at the house, and they opened the trunk of Sir's car to find tiny little Matty, so small Jake could still carry him around.

Jake spent a week in the hospital for broken ribs and a severely sprained ankle. But then he was put back into the system. (Neal still hates having to rely on anyone, because Jake spent his whole life hoping only to always be let down.)

When he was fifteen, Jake remade himself into Neal and started his career as a con artist, an art thief, a forger. He took advantage of a flawed system, and made sure his targets deserved it. (Neal doesn't feel guilt for anything, except Matty. Matty's the reason he learned to use a gun, because Sir got out of jail too soon and Neal could never beat him in a fair fight. So Neal mastered a weapon and confronted Sir and reminded him of those horrible months and then he shot Sir until he ran out of bullets. It took three clips.

Neal wishes he could raise the dead, so he could kill Sir again and again and again.)

No records exist of Neal Caffrey before his fifteenth birthday. Peter Burke has looked a hundred times, a hundred different ways. There are no records of Jacob Connors or his brother Matthew, either. No one thought to look for those, though. Jake and Matty only exist in Neal's mind anymore.

Neal's cons are far more elaborate than collapsing at some old woman's feet, but at the start of every single one, he still feels terrified. He doesn't have a little brother anymore, just a woman he loves, and he knows that Agent Burke is closing in.

Neal doesn't worry; Jake tells him things'll either work out or they won't, and he remembers Matty when Burke yells, "FBI! Freeze!"

Neal freezes. Jake runs back in time, to before his parents died, to the hospital when Daddy said, "This is Matt. Take care of him, Jakey."

(Alone in prison, dodging men who make him wish for a gun and thousands of bullets, Neal prays for his little brother's soul. He never prays for himself.)


	2. gunpowder and lead

**Title**: gunpowder and lead

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: AU; implied child abuse; spoilers for season 2

**Pairings**: Neal/Peter

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 365

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: Neal/Peter, any type of AU

* * *

In this world, they are an ex-con FBI consultant and an FBI agent.

But in another world, the boy who would one day be Neal Caffrey decided he really enjoyed using the guns his uncle didn't lock away, and he really _really_ liked the look in people's eyes when they realized, _why, yes, sir, I am about to pull this trigger_.

Maybe that's because in another world, Neal Caffrey's little brother died as an infant instead of at four, and the boy who would become Neal Caffrey had no one to care for but himself, and he never lets anyone close. Maybe the woman who'd one day call herself Kate Moreau didn't escape the banal existence of her birth and Mozzie never made it past puberty because drunken assholes are everywhere, often running stoplights.

And in that other world, maybe Peter Burke chose numbers over law enforcement and still made enemies, because he's uncompromising in any reality, but in this one, he didn't know how to defend himself and expected the world to protect the innocent.

And maybe, Neal Caffrey does take a shine to the man he's been hired to kill. Maybe he even thinks about kissing him, licking him, caressing him with fingers and the cold muzzle of a gun.

_Please, don't_, Peter asks, but he doesn't beg and he doesn't cry. In this world, there is no Elizabeth to plead for her husband's life because Peter's never been to New York. There is no Satchmo or any other dog because his apartment doesn't allow them.

There is only Peter, and there is only Neal, and there is only a contract for Peter's life.

Neal looks him in the eye, in this world where he really likes guns, and he pulls the trigger. And he watches Peter Burke die, and he sterilizes the scene, and he reports the job as complete.

But that is not this world. In this world, Neal is mocking Peter's tie collection and Elizabeth is laughing and Satchmo is begging for treats and Peter is saying they're going to be late.

In this world, Neal hates guns because he knows how good he is with them, and how easy it'd be.


	3. saunter vaguely downwards

**Title**: saunter vaguely downwards

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: AUish

**Pairings**: implied Peter/Neal

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**:390

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: Peter/Neal, 7 Sins

**Notes**: the seven sins in italics are "six things the Lord hateth, and the seventh His soul detesteth."

* * *

_A proud look_

Neal always dresses like he's going to a high-society party, and he always acts like someone is watching and judging, and Peter wants to look away, but never quite manages it.

_A lying tongue_

Almost every word out of Neal's mouth is a lie, or a half-truth, or the truth nestled in a lie. Peter knows that. He tries to forget that he's already started twisting the truth to keep Neal safe and out of prison.

_Hands that shed innocent blood_

Neal doesn't talk about his life before he named himself Neal Caffrey. Neal Caffrey has records dating back to his birth, but Peter knows those are fabricated. He's managed to trace Neal back to his high-school, but there's only vague rumors before that. (His name was Jacob Connors back then, but Peter has never let Neal know he figured it out. And he never mentions the grave he's visited or the police report about the guy who'd skipped his parole and wound up dead far from any town.)

_A heart that devises wicked plots_

Neal only ever targeted people who deserved it, but he broke the law. That makes him a criminal. And Peter catches criminals. He can't just let them go because he might sometimes agree with them.

_Feet that are swift to run into mischief_

Neal really should mind his own business, but he keeps butting in where he's neither needed nor wanted. And then he ends up in trouble or danger and needs Peter to save him. Peter's shot at more people in the months since Neal joined than he had in all the years before Neal.

_A deceitful witness that uttereth lies_

Neal's a liar. Case closed. He fabricates things and he twists things and even when Peter knows something's a lie, he still wants to believe because Neal is just that goddamned good.

_Him that soweth discord among brethren_

The office is divided over Neal, and then there's the Fowler thing and Hughes questioning every decision since Peter walked out of that prison and called him to request Caffrey's release. And Peter knows that the day they send Neal back, he'll leave, too. Neal's already proven how easy it is for him to escape, and Peter (and Elizabeth) will help him, if they think it's the right thing.

And it probably will be.


End file.
